Top 5 Favorite Artists

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abachniv wrote:

As good of a list as it is (CBR), I take it with a grain of salt. Brian Bolland and Dave McKean should be so much higher on the list, for example. Again, it's voting from comic fans, many of who have no clue of anything artistic, just what they think is pretty.

But really, the top three I have trouble arguing against. But a lot of it is a popularity contest.

I know!!! Can you believe that there are people who don't like Chaykin on these boards!!!

After a short stint in the military after World War II, Steve Ditko studied at the Cartoonists and Illustrators School, and by 1953, he was working in the field of comics, for Crestwood, Harvey and Charlton Comics.

Soon, he found himself steady work at Atlas Comics for the rest of the 50s, working on the relaunched titles Amazing Adventures, Strange Worlds, Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish, which soon became the most popular titles from Atlas Comics (soon to be known as Marvel Comics).

In 1962, Ditko co-created Spider-Man with Stan Lee. It was working on Spider-Man and Doctor Strange that Ditko gained the majority of his fame.

A master of economy, Ditko stories were often packed with many panels, giving each story a depth of plot that made each issue a hearty reading experience.

His art was always very cleanly detailed, and he was a master of creating the right mood with his work, and, as I mentioned, with the amount of panels he used, he could convey the deepest of emotions in one small panel, making a five-page story feel like a 22-pager.

Eventually, Ditko seemed to desire more freedom with his work (he had taken on more and more writing work on his strips), so he left Marvel for Charlton Comics, where he was given a good deal of freedom.

He worked on Captain Atom, Blue Beetle and The Question, and in addition, he created Mr. A for Wally Wood's independent company.

When Dick Giordano left Charlton for DC, Ditko was one of the creators he brought with him, and Ditko did some work for DC in the late 60s/early 70s, including creating The Creeper and co-creating Hawk and Dove.

Soon, though, Ditko went back to Charlton and independent companies, only returning to DC brielfy in the mid-70s, where he created Shade the Changing Man.

Ditko came back to work for Marvel in the early 80s, and from then on until his retirement from mainstream comics in the late 90s, he would work for either company as a freelancer, doing a number of titles as eclectic as Rom the Space Knight, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and Indiana Jones.

Since the late 90s, Ditko has only released a few one-shots sporadically, mostly for his longtime friend, Robin Snyder.

Barry Windsor-Smith made his debut as a young man when he approached Marvel Editor Roy Thomas, and came away with a gig drawing the X-Men.

Smith really rose to prominence, though, a few years later as the artist of Marvel's adaptation of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian character.

The book was a smash hit, and Smith was a star.

Soon after this, though, Smith withdrew from regular comic work, to work more with painting, as the pre-raphaelite influence was already becoming apparent in his comic book work, but now he was embracing it fully.

Smith returned occasionally to do some notable comic book, specifically some X-Men issues with Chris Claremont that were very well-received, as well as a larger return for Valiant Comics in the early 90s, with some lush, gorgeous work on Archer and Armstrong.

Smith also contributed Rune to the Ultraverse.

Most recently, Smith has announced he will be doing a Thing graphic novel for Marvel Comics.

Steve McNiven was a schoolteacher for years before finally feeling he was ready to start looking for a professional gig drawing comics. In his very first con, looking for work, McNiven's talent was noticed by Crossgen comics, which hired him to follow Joshua Middleton as regular artist for Crossgen's Meridian, with writer Barbara Kesel.

He stayed with Crossgen until it was clear the company was going under, at which point McNiven went to Marvel Comics, where he became the artist for Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's Marvel Knights: Four.

People were quite impressed with McNiven's detailed work which was just stylized enough not to be photo-realistic.

After a stint on Ultimate Secret and New Avengers, McNiven took over the biggest assignment of his career, drawing Marvel's big crossover event, Civil War, with writer Mark Millar.

When Mike Mignola broke into the comic industry in the early 80s, his style was unlike most other artists, as his characters were generally a lot blockier than other artists. This style only got more dramatic the more well-known he got, as he was able to experiment more.

After a few DC mini-series with this blockier, shadowy style, Mignola soon gained higher profile assignments with the style, using it on a number of Superman issues during John Byrne's run, and then, on Jim Starlin's mini-series, Cosmic Odyssey.

After drawing Gotham by Gaslight, the popular one-shot that began DC's Elseworlds line of comics, Mignola was busy on a number of special projects until 1994, when Mignola joined with other notable artists such as John Byrne and Frank Miller to do creator-owned work for Dark Horse Comics.

All time five? Hmmm..that is tough. I have always admired guys like Jack Kirby, Sal Buscema, and Herb Trimpe growing up. Guys I like now..the late Michael Turner, David Finch, Jim Lee, Doug Manke and Ivan Reis. One of the main reasons I have read a lot of DC titles these past four or five years.

(referring to an original comic book piece) This is a art gallery my friend and THIS is a piece of art.

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